For two special friends whose grief I've wished I could hug away for them

[miaowkytten]

"Grief is a most peculiar thing; we're so helpless in the face of it. It's like a window that will simply open of its own accord. The room grows cold, and we can do nothing but shiver. But it opens a little less each time, and a little less; and one day we wonder what has become of it."

Sayuri, "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden